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Happy birthday! :)

Happy birthday milady!

It's themes of redemption, forgiveness and the complexities of morality just weren't executed well. That or it got timed poorly; when the writer tried mixed all that with uninteresting humor, it just didn't work and the character development wasn't any cooler. That's why I got bored of it after four days and whatever synergy it had, just wasn't effective aside from uninteresting overall characters.

Devilman Lady is what I prefer if I want a story about two people working together to fight demons. I'm like 14 episodes into its adaptation and while the adaptation is going its own way by TMS, I can already relate to the characters. Devilman Lady characters in the original story are still relatable. So glad that not every character transforming into a demon got insanely bloodlusted. I also love how Jun's transformation gave me some Witchblade vibes (the anime Witchblade is hot). I also feel like Devilman was the precursor to SMT and I absolutely love Digital Devil Saga.

Other than that, I feel the same way about Tales of games. Final Fantasy and Pokémon are also big name franchises that are shadows of their former selves. The more their respective developers continue them, the more I grow out of them. Always deviating from what's cool and original the more they continue.

Dead by Daylight sounds pretty cool by the way. I think that the Castlevania games are much cooler than that Netflix adaptation which was meh!

Not even the bombest in cartoon or adaptation standards.

With that said, I totally forgot that Romi Park did the voice of Lu Sheng Mao or that Chinese boy from Zegapain.

It's been ages since I last watched Zegapain and I'm so glad that I discovered this interesting anime 13 years ago.

I was also looking for other underrated anime to watch all those years ago.

Anyway milady, Zegapain is basically like The Matrix, but anime. Yes, a digital world inside what appears to be reality.

I also re-watched it because of Ayako Kawasumi. I love Melfina, Tomoko Nomura, the sexy ninja Kiriko and Gwendolyn by the way. Her character Yehl or Shizuno Misaki was cool as well.

As we can see! Ayasumi did the voices Saber, Atoli and Yehl back in 2006.

Very few people know that Zegapain was Kana Hanazawa's first acting role. Same age as I am too and I re-watched Zegapain last year.

Smooth animations and CGI are what Sunrise usually does best. Shame it didn't get almost the same reception as Code Geass which came out in the same year.

Speaking of Saber, I watched Fate/stay night back in 2008. I tried watching Chrono Crusade via a DVD disc my cousin got me a week after I completed Fate/stay night and it was boring kids stuff with jarring, cringe, etc slapstick humor, so I dropped it. I eventually lost that DVD, but I know that I won't ever buy it on Blu-ray or in manga format.

Comedy and mediocre character development all over the place before Spy X Family existed. Another non-battle shounen manga that can't even hold the candle to Hyper Police or GTO.

By the way milady, how are you doing this summer?

I've been playing Ragnarok Online and replaying Pokémon Stadium. Yes, I've been on a Korean mmorpg and TBS (my other favorite genre because it plays like digital chess or go) kick recently. I'll see if any other Korean mmorpgs have private servers.

Other than that, I really can't wait to try the most recent ninja classes in Ragnarok Online. The shinkiro and shiranui classes already came out in South Korea around 2020. As you can see, it's as old as Dot Hack Sign and it picked up where that late 90s manhwa it was based on left off.

That anime or adaptation should have come out at around 2007 so those first generation of ninjas would hook the Naruto fans.

FF14 may have ninjas, but in Ragnarok Online, ninjas are known for being the strongest class in PVP. Magic ninjas more specifically, those are brutal. Able to kill a bunch of opponents coming at any one of them fast. Also able to temporarily block physical attacks with Cicada Skin Shed.

Unfortunately for FF14, many fans left upset because of that recent update. Square Enix is as disappointing as usual and they should stick to publishing because other developers are already stealing their thunder.

Aside from Armed Fantasia, I also look forward to Penny Blood and Star Ocean 6. Ragnarok Online fifth classes as well.

Well, that's pretty typical. On the one hand, over time we get used to good franchises, but on the other, most of their updates are no longer able to update or at least return that original wow effect.

Eh, this is frustrating. I remember the first time I found XX from a friend and played all night, then praising the game to my friends.

I heard that they also messed something up with the gameplay. But I don't know the details, since I listened to the soundtrack more than played after Isuka.

I was just very upset by the attitude towards the franchise since I was a big Ishiwatari fanboy.

I'm tired of rehashed battle shounen as of late too and why did Naruto get a sequel anyway? I used to read a lot of One Piece until I turned 25. That certain point in life where I grew out of most battle shounen. Spy X Family isn't battle shounen, but whatever it is, it's still kids stuff. I wouldn't recommend that to my semitomboyish friend from North Carolina unless it's like mecha, space opera, space western, neo western, cyberpunk or historical.

Sometimes, I wish that more manga could be like Hyper Police or Blue Submarine no. 6 (I only know the Gonzo adaptation so far which had these amazing special effects for its time; I barely even see that explosive CGI stuff anymore; The Origin as of late comes close to that). Ghost in the Shell adaptations aged so well for me to a point that I want to read the Masamune Shirow manga.

Sometimes I feel like this site is run by normies. I had cable TV before a bunch of dweebs reached puberty and cable TV back in my day was magical. It had enough anime to literally blow my mind. Old cable TV was way better than streaming services.

I remember when I watched the first four episodes of Solty Rei dubbed that used to be featured on that Anime On Demand cable feature and I used to think that everyone else watched it. So far, I'm still one of the few that appreciates most Gonzo anime.

At least ANN has a list of TechTV, Encore Action and Anime Network featured anime, I'm still glad. Blocks and channels that normies missed out on. They wouldn't would never consider anyway.u

So yes, there are plenty of anime (graphic novels too) weeaboos hate that we love. It's still weird that MAL rates kids stuff so high. Manga or anime middle-aged men would have a hard time getting into. I'm close to middle age right now.

As for Bleach, I still think that it's cool. It's more like Street Fighter than all those boring and juvenile cardboard cutouts riding on Dragon Ball's coattail.

I don't know which is more recycled, modern DC rewriting Superman's story or those juvenile cardboard cutouts in manga having very subtle changes in plot.

Yu-Gi-Oh? I once believed that it was originally a card game franchise. Well, it kind of is. The cards still look gorgeous.

By the way, I'm playing Valkyrie Profile for the first time and I might get into an Armored Core kick some time.

I remember when my brother and I played the first Armored Core, blowing each other's mechs up. Multiplayer on Armored Core is still amazing, even after the first game's debut. Those games also have deeper stories than Armored Trooper Votoms and Gundam. I still like Gundam though like my beloved G Gundam.

My introduction to UC would be 08th MS Team which was broadcasted when I was 11 years old and I still love the original Macross (I'm still hoping that future movie sequels will do great things).

I was 13 when I watched Macross II on Encore. The dub was OK if I recall.

You're welcome milady and Oxford is something that I would recommend for more experienced people because it expects the reader to know particles before moving on to this book. A good overall book needs to explain everything, particles-wise.

I agree with you about modern AAA and Microsoft owning too many studios is ridiculous. Not sure what to expect from Elder Scrolls 6 seeing AAA being outclassed by AA. One of the most amazing games that I've seen as of late is Armored Core 6. From Software are the masters of mecha games. If only Gundam games were mainly third-person shooters with fast pacing.

Like a lot of people, I put a lot of things over modern AAA games.

A Japanese whetstone over modern AAA games? Always (whetting is a crucial part of my chores). A Dremel over modern AAA games! Absolutely, so on and so forth.

Indie developers are like the mom and pop shops of entertainment, indie graphic novelists as well.

Seeing the overall top manga list on this being so cringe makes me want to read obscure comics like Transmetropolitan, Dr. McNinja, Saga, Give Me Liberty, Once and Future, Wanted or Bitch Planet times an infinity instead, all those comics that will never get adaptations. I'm tired of seeing so much manga written for 13 year-olds or kids. Always lacking hard sci-fi and balls these days.

Even League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is far more mature than most mainstream manga.

Yes, for every manga like Berserk, Silent Möbius, Big O, Kikaider or Venus Wars, we get a bunch of cringey stuff written for kids as seen on MAL's top manga list.

What I do expect so far is a super fun summer and Back To School Day.

By the way milady, here's an interesting copy of a book that I found for going over Japanese basics, lots of content too:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3J4JE6qt-ZSY1BhbGZVS3o4LWM/view?resourcekey=0-j6aboZkTK0CiPm0cdhSo3Q

Welcome back milady and glad to see that you are okay.

I also have a problem with Microsoft, aka the Redmond devil and the AAA industry. So far, my support goes to independent developers and developers of obscure JRPGs. Although, I am curious about Visions of Mana. I also put a lot of things over Gamepass, including physical copies of games. English or no English, I'll use Playasia to import Japanese games, Blu-ray anime included, if I have to. Emulators over Gamepass? always! I highly doubt that Breakdown (my old favorite sci-fi action game by Namco; a story about a supersoldier fighting monsters from another universe that made good use of time travel) or Zoids Assault is available on the service. They would overstay their welcome.

I also heard about what happened to Phil Spencer. Yes, there are a lot of enemies within the company he's working for and that's one reason why I don't trust big tech, not even Apple. I would donate money to independent software developers that make us free and open-source emulators.

Ah yes! Star Ocean: Till The End of Time, it's been 13 years since I last played it. I used to put 200 hours in that game because of customization. In its precursor, I put less hours into customization. I have yet to recruit Chisato and Opera which are said to be serious muscle during battle. Those two girls must be on steroids or something. I agree that they're beastly in battle like Maria Traydor, but too bad I have to wait until close to endgame before I can recruit them. Until then, I'll save my last two party slots for those girls. Good thing I didn't recruit that many mid-tier characters like Leon, Bowman Ernest or Ashton. Nobody really cares about those characters and Noel is my weakest party member. Too bad this weak Jack of all trades character is mandatory, but I'll just use him to heal the party.

After doing some cooking in Star Ocean 2, I decided to make risotto and jambalaya later this month. Too bad food can only recover outside of battle, but it sure beats chugging up all 20 blueberries when dungeon crawling. Yes, it's 20 pieces per item and that's one reason why The Second Story is a little harder than other JRPGs. Especially big name ones like Final Fantasy where getting 99 pieces per item is a piece of cake. Top tier MP or mana healing items are very hard to get as well, difficult like in Ragnarok Online (I remember when so many stupid players in a party made me waste a lot of strawberries because of their inability to kill monsters in a weekly dungeon, so I had to make a female account for the wanderer class, for saving skill points because players were totally dimwitted; being like "wanderers are too girly" or "I prefer this class"). Item customization is based on chance like gambling, but it's worth it when you speed up the game.

I have yet to play The Last Hope, but I'll definitely play that too on the Xenia emulator. Hopefully, Playasia is still selling it, even if it's Japanese.

I'll have to check out Ghostwire and Hi-Fi Rush some time. Hopefully, they'll be available on GOG, not just on Steam. No DRM please! :)

Hi Miu! so how are you doing this May?

I really need to buy an evap cooler for summer and ChatGPT gave me an extra hand with Japanese grammar (AI could use some work, but it's still useful). Yes, too much heat can be extremely unbearable yet it makes ice cream worth it.

Other than that, I've been playing Star Ocean 2 for the first time. I bought that game for my cousin, but I never got a chance to play until recently. Said semitomboy that speaks fluent Japanese told me that it was one of her most cherished JRPGs since her 13th birthday. IIRC, she's a late Scorpio like you so her birthday would take place on late fall to early winter. I hope that she cherished the remake too and Second Story R should have already outsold FF7 Rebirth in Japan seeing that Rebirth flopped in what happens to be Nintendo territory now.

Sometimes, I miss icy wind and weather. At the same time, I love thinking of spring in my old home Marietta as well as in Eurasia. That kudzu must be creeping all over the place and in Japan, they use it to make sweet tofu. Japanese people must think that westerns are crazy for fighting the plant seeing it being so invasive.

I would sure love to have that sweet tofu with peaches (no one, not even Chinese people can harvest that fruit until around early August or my birthday). :D

I don't mind having kudzu (makes very beautiful mixed forests), bamboo and other eastern plants trying to keep me company. Honeysuckles also smell great this month, the flower Shino in Dot Hack GU said symbolizes devoted affection. That's common knowledge in Marietta and Eurasia alike.

Shino made Haseo blush before Haseo mentioned honeysuckles to Alkaid which is pronounced like arcade in Japan.